A photograph of the dedication ceremony for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s historical marker for the Millersburg Ferry, 1972. One of the speakers was Judge Robert E. Woodside, of Millersburg, who is pictured at the podium.
The marker is located at Market Street and North Street, Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
MILLERSBURG FERRY
The only surviving ferry service across the Susquehanna began as early as 1825. Boats were poled by manpower until 1873, when the first paddlewheeler was acquired. In the 1920’s, gasoline engines replaced steam power, and the paddlewheels were shifted from the side to the stern. The ferry landing is a short distance west.
Judge Woodside, in his memoir, My Life and Town (1979), made the following comments about the ferry:
THE FERRY
The ferry crossing the river at this point, the last of many which once crossed the Susquehanna, is important to the history of Millersburg and so important to the current fame of the borough that it cannot be ignored by anyone writing about this area. I recognize its importance to Millersburg, but so much has been written about it and so many pictures of it have been published in so many books, newspapers, pamphlets and national magazines – even on plates and jewelry – that writing about it here would be doubly redundant. Suffice it to say that Millersburgers are proud to have it still operating and hope that Captain Jack Dillman and his associates and successors continue to guide it between the islands and grass patches for years to come.
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Dedication photo from My Life and Town. Marker photo from Historical Marker Database.
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